Things I Miss, Part I

As I look back on the last 10 years of pop culture (and of my life), I see that many things I love have come and gone. TV shows, music groups, styles of clothing, etc. Because I love nostalgia, I'm going to highlight some of the things I miss most.

Daria

The Mtv animated sitcom that defined much of my high school experience. If you want to see where my sense of humor came from and what shaped it (aside from my dad's sarcastic sensibilities and my mom's unashamed love of slapstick humor), look at Daria. Full of sarcasm, mocking, satire, and independence, I related to this show from first episode to last.



Though the series started in 1997 (the end of my 7th grade year), I first caught it in my 8th grade year, in its second season. It was subversive and clever, and it never hesitated to cast Daria in a negative light. I watched it faithfully until it ended in 2002, my senior year in high school. I was devastated that there would be no more new Daria episodes, but it had never been clearer to me that Daria just didn't fit in on the network anymore. Mtv was dramatically changing, the rebellious bastion of popular and hip music was dead, replaced by Carson Daly, Tom Green, Cribs, Pimp My Ride, My Super Sweet Sixteen, and new, disturbing reality shows. And Daria had been its death knell.

Daria isn't on DVD yet, due to a complicated mess of copyright law relating to the popular music used in nearly every episode of the series. Being a bit subversive myself, I've managed to snag all the episodes, and I watch them when I need a laugh.

Daria, I miss you.